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Welcome to Close Call Sports. CCS objectively tracks and analyzes close and controversial calls in sport, with great regard for the rules and spirit of the game. Developed from The Left Field Corner: MLB Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (UEFL), whose purpose is to objectively track and analyze umpire ejections, video instant replay reviews and their corresponding calls, with great regard for the rules and spirit of the game.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Suspension: Joe West Suspended for Papelbon Incident

MLB suspended umpire Joe West one game following his ejection of Phillies pitcher Jonathan Papelbon and subsequent actions during the post-ejection confrontation. MLB Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Joe Torre made the announcement:

Joe West handled himself appropriately in ejecting Papelbon after the player's lewd gesture to the fans. I fully understand that Joe was reacting to a player who was acting aggressively, and can understand his frustration with the situation. However, Joe knows that an umpire cannot initiate physical contact with a player, just as a player cannot initiate physical contact with an umpire. I spoke to Joe about the incident, and he admitted that there was a better way to handle the situation. I consider this matter closed.

The last MLB umpire publicly suspended was Fieldin Culbreth, who served as crew chief during the May 9, 2013 Angels-Astros game during which Culbreth's crew allowed Astros Manager Bo Porter to make consecutive pitching changes during the same at-bat, with Porter's second pitcher permitted to exit the game without throwing a single pitch. Angels Manager Mike Scioscia protested that game claiming the umpires neglected to apply Rule 3.05(b) which requires substitute pitchers to face at least one batter or record the third out of an inning, but the Angels came from behind to win the game so the protest was dropped.

In 2012, MLB suspended Bob Davidson for repeated violations of the Office of the Commissioner's standards for situation handling related to his ejection of Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel on 5/15/12.